Drowning in Light, Shining in Darkness
by ErikaVeex3
Summary: Asking and wanting nothing more then freedom from her painful life, Yuna gives a last plea. Distorted memories and hopelessness are the only thing she recalls when she wakes up in a stange world. Only love can mend her wounds. YunaxSephiroth
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note: **First story I'm posting on here. I've written on other sites (Might recognize the username) but I figured, let me start off with something dark and unusualy xD I got inspiration for this after seeing this pairing on youtube. They somehow beautifully meld. And the crossover makes sense! It works! It isn't crack fiction Rikku and.. Selphie grew up together, it's like the games! Hoorah! This is after X-2 (with the sad ending) and also after DoC and the ff7 saga ends. This is, yet again, another rebirth of Sephiroth. It'll make sense later on (Though, do they ever give much explanation for his inability to die in the first place? ;P) Read and review please. Not my best but hopefully still good ^_^

x-x-x-x

I told you I would be okay without you.

I lied.

I did it for you. I tried, I really did. I went through the routine. Wake up, get dressed. Fix my hair. Smile over breakfast at Rikku who babbled on about the new boy in her life. Of course, he wanted nothing to do with her. She had the worst taste in men. The conversations always got me thinking back to you though, Tidus. How you were the best man I had ever met. But you're gone now.

I'd go to singing lessons until tweleve, and then grab lunch at the old café. I like it for its quietness – no one ever comes there. Then I go back home, read up on the goings on of things, and then I'd clean myself up, tidy the house, and make dinner. I never wait up for the bouncy blonde cousin of mine; I'm always in bed by nine.

But how do you live, when your lungs collapse with every breath you breathe?

You just keep breathing, because they haven't collapsed enough to stop you yet.

And when your body begs you to stay in bed, because your emotional pain has spilled over to that of a physical pain?

You tell yourself to get up because the pain is in your head.

And when your mind gives? Every moment, another dull, black, monotonous moment you've felt before?

You get used to the feeling.

When you don't feel anymore?

Well, then you're already dead.

And I am. I think. It's dark. My body is numbingly cold. I feel like I'm suffocating, but I'm utterly calm. This is a relief I've longed for, and for that, I face it with a smile.

But where are you? I search the darkness for your light, your oh so radiant light, but I can see nothing but blackness. Where are you, Tidus? I long for your light to envelope me in warmth. I'm so terribly cold..

Light. Lots of light. Too much light. It's blinding. I want to smile but it's too much, too much light. A soft voice in my head asks, "Where did you come from?"

It's distant and low but too close for my liking. An unfamiliar voice with a deep, coarse tone. Dark, and just a bit menacing. Despite being enveloped in light, I feel the darkness radiating from it. I feel cold even under the gentle warm touch on my arms I now feel. It isn't you Tidus, I know that much. Who are you? Who- "Who are you?"

"I've been called many names by many people. Bastard, evil, sinner, hatred embodified.. But you may call me Sephiroth."

My eyes shoot open – they had been closed? – to meet two cerulean ones. A smile falls on his lips at my horrified expression. I struggle from his grasp, though he's not really holding me tight. I just can't seem to find two feet to stand on.

As I stumble after trying to stand for the third time, he grabs my arm and holds me up. There's a certain curiousness, if not a worried expression, in his eyes, "Your turn. Who are you?"

After a moment of silence, he spoke again, "I'm not going to kill you, you know. You could atleast give me a name."

"Y-You don't know me? My name is Yuna."

"You aren't from here, are you?" The man, Sephiroth, lamented, "How peculiar.."

"I really should be getting home." I nod eagerly, pulling my arm from his grasp as I was now able to stand on my own two feet, "Which way to Spira?"

"Spira.." Sephiroth's eyes narrow, "Certainly not from here. Tell me, Yuna, what happened before you woke up?"

"I-" I blush. I can't help it. To tell a complete stranger that you were begging through silent tears for an escape from your misery, that's just well, plainly embarrassing, "I don't remember-"

"Liar."

"What?" I took a step back, surprised, and disgusted by his rudeness.

"Your eyes, peculiar as they are, gave you away. First they stared at the ground, presumably as you deliberated telling me. Then with a hard edge I was yet to see in them, you told me you didn't remember anything. Which was a lie."

"I think I should be going. Not so nice meeting you, Sephiroth-" I turned to take off.

"You have nowhere to go." The words halted my movement, "This is Gaia. A planet ruined by evil, by greed, and by the imbetweens."

"The imbetweens?"

"Those who do bad things but wish they could be good. Confused lot, damned souls they are, but they have heart. There are monsters too."

"This sounds a lot like what home was like.."

"Your world too had monsters?"

"This doesn't make sense. There are not many worlds. There is one. Where is my cousin? My ship? My home.."

"Tell me, in your world, who were you?"

"I.. I was a sender. I was dedicated to saving the lives of Spira, even if it meant my own death. But instead, someone, a person much better then myself, went in my place. It was just so.. wrong.." My lips form a thin tight line as I restrain tears. I don't understand Tidus. Where am I?

"You're.. broken." Sephiroth stepped closer, "You tried to be the hero but being the hero comes with severe repercussions, doesn't it?"

I remained silent, watching him with careful eyes as he paced back and forth, "Yuna, this is your chance. Two broken people.. perhaps together, we can be, whole."

"I don't understand-" I shook my head fiercely, "I must get home. I don't understand anything-" I took off in a run, but my legs failed me once more. My knees collided harshly with the cement pavement. My hands went out instinctively to stop me from completely crumpling. From my hands and knees, I watched as my blood soaked into the cracks underneath me. Tears ran down to the tip of my nose before dropping to the ground and mixing with my splattered red rivers. Was this all I had left?

He knelt beside me, a gentle hand on my shoulder, ignoring as his silver hair became tainted, dragging in my blood. With a calm, strong voice, he said, "I could kill you, for your bad manners."

I scowled through tears, "Then do it."

He laughs, "Yuna, have you not only lost your home, but your head?"

"You said you were broken," I find the inner strength to grab him by the collar with both hands so our eyes met, "You'd know that a broken life is a life not of living, but of constant, slow, miserable dying."

He stared at me, before his pale, cold fingers found my hands and pulled them rather easily from his collar. With what I swore were saddened eyes, he whispered, "Yet still we are living."

He understands.


	2. Chapter 2

My eyes flutter open. It takes me a moment to take in my surroundings. A shack. Almost a shed, but it's falling apart. Where there appeared to once be a window, is now just an empty hole in the wall. Rubbish is strewn across the floor. Crates, cans, scrap metal. The wind is blowing up dust outside, and I assume I'm in a desert. I really must stop waking up like this-

Sephiroth. What had happened? I don't remember anything.

Further taking my surroundings, I find I'm on the floor, wrapped in a thick, itchy blanket. It atleast provides a cushion from the hard ground. I push myself up to a siting position and re-evaluate. My arms are sore. My eyes are irritated. I'm parched too.

"You're alive." Sephiroth walks in through the arch where a door should be, smile falling quick enough. He throws a container at me, "Drink."

"This is your home?" I rub my eyes and grab the container warily. For a brief moment I hold it to my lips and contemplate whether to drink it. I swig it back despite my hesitation.

"I don't have a home. But we had to move. I sensed danger."

"What kind of danger?"

"It would take a long time to explain my history." Sephiroth pulled on leather gloves that rested on a tool bench near the wall, "I… found, a bike to travel on. I have to get used to this form again. I'm not strong enough to fly yet." Sephiroth seemed to be talking mostly to himself as he played with how the gloves looked on him, before peeling them off and dropping them on the bench, "How was your lengthy slumber?"

"Lengthy?"

"You were out for a good two days." Sephiroth mused, "Though, planetary travel must be exhausting, right?"

"I love how you're amused by this. I've lost everything I know, and I don't know if I can ever get it back, but you find this amusing."

"At least you get a chance at a new life." Sephiroth shook his head, "You got to leave the broken world you lived in. I'm here in mine." Without a chance for me to respond he added, "We better get moving. The last thing I'd want is to run into them."

"Run into who?"

"I told you, it's a long story. One we don't have time for."

Suddenly, he pulled me from the floor and dragged me toward the empty space of a door. He hopped onto the bike, sliding forward for me to have room. I hesitated and his growing agitation became more apparent. I bit my lip and climbed on. What other option did I have? I was alone in the middle of the desert. Tidus, where are you?

It's quiet for awhile – or as quiet as it can be with a roaring motor and wind whipping by. Anxiety has the best of me, and my head has been buried in his shoulder since he kicked it over 100mph. By now, he should be feeling bruises from how tight I'm holding his torso.

"Tell me Yuna, what do you think of, 'bad' people?"

"What?" I find myself yelling over the engine, though he talks with such ease, "What bad people?"

"You know, the bad guys."

"I don't understand the question-" The bike nearly flips as he screeches it to a hault, "What in all of Spira was that for?" I shriek.

"It's not a hard question." His eyes glared, "Do you hate them?"

"W-What I meant," I found it hard to find words with his intense stare, "Is how do you define, 'bad'?"

"The bad guys. The monsters. The sinners who have hurt, killed, destroyed. The ones who threaten humanity and everything it loves!" I swore he was fuming. His eyes changed. I became rigid, but forced a calm composure,

"Are they evil-"

"What do you think? Answer the damn-"

"Or are they, broken?"

Silence fell. The only noise was the occasional sound of dust being picked up by the wind. His eyes returned to normal and he looked away, a small smile falling on his lips, "Tell me, Yuna. You're broken, would you do bad, evil, things?"

I shut my eyes, "I see how others look at me, you know. The pain in their eyes as they see my frail, dying figure. I've hurt everyone I love. That is evil itself."

"But you never meant to. Does that make you bad?"

"Did you do things on purpose?" I ask, and expect no reply, "Or was life just unfa-"

A sound of an engine approaches, and Sephiroth shoots straight up, "Hell. Now, hold on tight, Yuna."

"What? Wh-" I didn't even finish the word before I almost got blasted off the bike. The shock made me grab at his torso just tight enough not to fly off as he kicked the bike zero to sixty in just a few seconds.

"What is it?" I screamed.

"Them."

"Who?"

"The ones I told you I have history with."

"What kinda history?"

"A long one." Sephiroth repented, steering the bike through a low over hang that caused us to duck, "Good with guns?"

"Y-Yeah-"

"Though you were. Found these near your body."Sephiroth shoved my pistols into my hands, "On my count, you shoot. Don't miss. Now!" The bike whipped ninety degrees pointing my guns right out the bike hot on our tails. It took me a moment to fire, and the blonde behind the bike swerved to avoid.

"Are you trying to kill me?" I growl.

"No, I'm trying to kill him." Sephiroth hissed, "And I said don't miss!"

"I'm not trying to!" Sephiroth spun the bike around again, giving me another chance to aim. This time I was a lot more prepared, aiming and firing with the skill of a marksmen. Two bullets shattered his side view mirror, as if to send a warning message. I can't say I was afraid until his bike unfolded to reveal compartments filled with swords. Steering with his hips, the boy veered left up toward a small cliff, pulling out two swords.

"Sephiroth, he's cutting you off! Veer right!"

Sephiroth smiled, "That wouldn't be any fun now, would it?"

"I thought you didn't want to engage him!"

"I want him dead. That comes first." Driving with one hand, he slid out a sword bigger than the bike itself.

As we neared the cliff, The bike flew over and the blonde used his hips to wheel it around mid air. As it landed, he charged us.

Sephiroth went blow for blow with the swordsman, easily wielding the sword which should have been too heavy to hold.

"Who's the girl?" The blonde growled.

"A friend." Sephiroth smiled with grace. He didn't even appear to blink during battle.

"Friend got a name?" The boy looked at me with the same cerulean eyes as Sephiroth. Were they brothers?

"Does she need a name?"

"Well, I had a friend. She was a girl. And you killed her!" He screamed, fiercely stabbing at Sephiroth with his blade. Sephiroth hit the break hard, smiling as the man stabbed the air.

"Aerith, was it?" He kept up the grin, "Pity, she _was _pretty, Cloud." Cloud was his name.

"She didn't deserve to die!"

"You still blame yourself, don't you? Poor, lone wolf, Cloud."

"No, I blame you!" Cloud charged at us once more, swords drawn, "Why won't you stay dead?"

Sephiroth easily blocked the first menuver, but when Cloud spun around on the bike and swung again, it seemed to catch him off guard. I did the only thing I could do. I shot.

It barely grazed his finger but it was enough for him to drop the blade. Staring at the bloody mess, Cloud growled before taking off. Sephiroth looked from him to me, and sighed, "You need better aim."

"Did you want me to blow his hand off? He's your brother!"

"My, brother?" Sephiroth stared, before breaking into a fit of hysterical, unstoppable laughter.

"What? What's so funny?"

His laughing cut short and he stared at me fiercely, "He is the farthest thing from my brother. We worked together. Long before he decided to use every wrong thing I've ever done against me."

"But your eyes-"

"Products of the evil in this world. Product of those who wanted to rule. Product of that damn man Shinra. Once I kill Cloud, he's next-!"

"C-Calm down. You don't have to kill anyone-"

"You have no-" He stopped, turned back to face the way he should to drive, and murmured, "You never answered me, before."

I took a moment to contemplate my response, based on everything that had just unfolded, "I'm with you, Sephiroth. That's what your really wanted to know."

He must have accepted the answer because he pushed the bike to full speed and left our conversation in the dust.


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note: **Sorry this is short. I'd really appreciate reviews though :) I haven't decided wether this will be a shorter story or a longer one. I've yet to figure out if I have time for a full fledge story :\ Reviews could help though.. :)

We rode for hours in silence. There were no words that needed to be said – not that we knew what to say anyway. I was a t a lost. I wanted answers. There were endless questions and no answer for even one. How did I get here? Who is Sephiroth? I know who he is, but, who is he _really_? And that blonde.. Cloud, Cloud was his name. Who was he? At the moment, I was following blindly behind a man I know nothing about. Besides that he is broken. That was good enough for me to get on the bike. But was it good enough for me to shoot? Well, I did..

The bike slowed to a hault as we arrived outside a small town. Sephiroth smiled, "Benora apples. I never did taste one.." Stepping off the bike, he approached a tree, prepared to pluck off one. As he did, a blast of light knocked it from his fingers. Sephiroth's eyes scanned the field, the corner of his mouths falling.

"What is it?" I ask softly, slowly climbing off the bike.

"Genesis, my friend, I thought you were dead."

"I thought the same of you, Sephiroth. Except, you actually were."

Sephiroth walked toward a man in red leather, with equally as bright red hair. I stayed behind, and I noticed him glance at my curiously, "Who is your lovely friend, Sephiroth?"

"What? No 'How are you?' or 'It's been so long!' From you? More concerned with my lady friend?" Sephiroth cracked a smile, "Was that why you wanted to be the hero? For the ladies?"

Genesis gave a snort and waved his hand as if to dismiss the comment, "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Sephiroth, no one is excited that you are back."

Sephiroth's smile fell, "I thought you would understand, Genesis."

"People can change, yes. I have, Sephiroth. I am the hero. But, have you?"

"How can I, when no one wants to let me prove such a feat?" Sephiroth shook his hand, "I suppose I should have known. You always were jealous of me."

"Must we bring up the past?" Genesis rolled his eyes, "You really haven't changed, have you? You're still am impudent, self-absorbed, pig." His glare could cut daggers, but Sephiroth didn't flinch.

"Ah, but see, you certainly have changed. Because you loved your impudent, self-absorbed, piggish friend. Now.. all I see is your drained life bleeding on the floor. How is your change any better than my staying the same?"

I watched as they exchanged harsh words. I tried to absorb it, but it all went over my head. I do nothing but watch because I can't process it.

Genesis put a hand to his lips, as if to think, before confidentally saying, "I am not sick, not anymore Sephiroth. You, you have let Jenova control you. Your greed, jealous, and rage have led you down a path toward decadence."

Sephiroth's face was a blank canvas. He grabbed another apple from the tree, and tossed it in the air. Watching it as it fell hard to the ground, he stated, "Except, you showed me that road in the first place, Genesis." He walked strong back toward me. Genesis drew his blade, and my surprised face was all Sephiroth needed to see to turn around and pull out his perfectly shined blade. He wielded it with such ease and grace that it was almost majestic watching him. Genesis and him went blow for blow for awhile. After a time, Sephiroth held up a hand. Genesis stopped in surprise.

"I'd continue to fight, but unlike you, I worry I'll actually hurt you." Then leaning in and touching Genesis' shoulder, "If I was so self-absorbed, I wouldn't have put what I considered your death on my shoulders."

He turned and slid his blade into its holder, smiling weakly at me, "Don't stare at me so worried, Yuna. I can hold my own."

He straddled the bike and started it up. I threw my leg back over to sit right on it. I lean forward, "I want answers." This struck a nerve as he turned rigid under my grasp. I turned my head to look at the man named Genesis, who stared after us with clouded eyes. Who was he? How many more people would I have to meet before things began to add up?


End file.
